Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique - SCO & Ticciati - Audiophile Audition

09 August 2012Audiophile AuditionSteven Ritter

27-year-old Robin Ticciati, conductor of the Scottish Chamber
Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony has been
making quite a splash as the youngest conductor to do this, that, or
the other, depending on which orchestra or opera or festival we are
talking about. Sometimes the parents just have to shove the kid out of
the nest, and in this case Linn Records has done just that, giving the
young man a crack at one of the most-recorded symphonies in the world,
and one that has at least ten (that I can think of) legendary readings as well-and they all still hold up just fine, thank you. A couple of years ago I reviewed what I then thought a superb reading by Janowski and Pittsburgh and
concluded that it didn't supplant the 1954 Munch/Boston reading in
fantastic two-channel SACD sound-still the best in my opinion-but that
it was probably the best modern version available especially if one
wanted to consider the sound.

And now along comes this one, by a chamber orchestra of all
things, and a conductor I was just marginally familiar with. Let's get
the chamber thing out of the way first-with 30-some strings we easily
get enough heft, and the way the Super Audio surround catches detail
after detail, and the way Ticciati brings such special and apt emphasis
to so many hidden things in the orchestration, well, believe me, crank
up the volume on this little honey and you get all the orchestra you
want, and more than your neighbors might like. The SCO has luscious
tonal qualities and all the technical acumen of the Concertgebouw, so
there is not much to complain about.

Interpretatively Ticciati gets it all just about right; okay, maybe
he's just a tad slow in the first movement, and maybe I miss a little of
the superimposed rush to the finish line in the last movement-not that
this one is short on adrenaline-but these are quibbles in a performance
that is remarkably consistent and brilliantly illuminating on just about
any count you can think of. There really is freshness in the
interpretation that hits you head on, as if you were just discovering
this piece. (Remember the first time you ever heard this? And how blown
away you were? I get some of that feeling here as well, or at least an
excitement that he is hearing it that way.) It's nice to
realize that the younger generation understands the significance of this
piece as well as we older folks, and can even lead us to hear things we
never did!

Beatrice and Benedict, after Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing was created as a sort of respite when Berlioz finally put to rest The Trojans,
but his fatigue at that later time of life didn't stop him from
granting this opera (and overture) a litheness and humor that another of
the old guard, Verdi, was to find in Falstaff. Ticciati again finds just the right amount of lightness and precision to give us a splendid reading.